Now THIS is an Ebay scam - updated 5-6-2003

coinguy1

The seller had the same coin listed a few days ago. I was the winning bidder at $1100 plus, but noticed that the identical coin (same ID#, etc.) was in the current Heritage auction and had sold for more than $5000. I also received emails from other Ebayer's who had been offered other examples of the same date and grade from the seller.

So, I gave the seller negative feedback to warn others. He then gave me negative feedback and has relisted the coin, again offering it to people privately, through emails, as well.

Here is the really scary part - when I "won" the coin previously, the seller sent me a link to an escrow company to try to get me to send my funds there. Unfortunately, I did not save the link but have since heard from another Ebayer that the escrow site was bogus. Not a surprise but certainly disturbing.

I welcome anyone to try to get this guy booted off of Ebay.

I do see that the current high bidder is someone who seems to bid in a lot of scam sales.

Ebay scam

LucyBop

i love the current high bidder....

VonZipper

Nice catch, you would think that Heritage would put their name on all images to keep people from stealing them. I guess why bother when you can manipulate an image nowadays.

pontiacinf

Mark i have a question...just how many times do legit dealers like yourself have to change ebay
id's because these guys purposely wreck your feedback. While im smart enough not to believe
the bunk negs you have, others may not see thru them, hence costing you customers


boy dis ticks me off

tgilliams

There was a Story on NPR Radio about a phoney escrow house where a seller was requiring funds to be sent to escrow. The escrow house was a scam. Ebay bidders lost 100,000's of thousands of dollars. If using escrow, only use companies approved by Ebay. Sounds like this seller heard the story and set his own up. BEWARE of any seller that requires escow.

jonesy

Son Of A Stitch!!!
Glenn

Bustman

I didn't know Geraldo was a fellow numismatist!

Russ

Once again, we have the titanic bidding war between Geraldo and Scamcrook.

Russ, NCNE

coindaughter

Mark, thank you, again, for your detective work. And thanks to Geraldo and scamcrook for cleaning the scum out of the pond.

nwcs

I wonder if geraldo will reveal his strategy? Oh wait, that might get him exiled...

Dog97

So where's the scam?
Are you saying that if a bidder pays he won't get anything for his $$ & the seller will just take the $$ & run or is it possible you will get a 1917 PCGS FB MS67 it just won't be #50038026 because #8026 is just a stock photo?

DCAMFranklin

<< <i>So where's the scam?
Are you saying that if a bidder pays he won't get anything for his $$ & the seller will just take the $$ & run or is it possible you will get a 1917 PCGS FB MS67 it just won't be #50038026 because #8026 is just a stock photo? >>

ksteelheader

I see a scam. ..........Ken

BigE

Oh good! Another celebrity coin collector, I wonder if Bill O'Reilly will outbid him?----------------BigE

ohbaby

Well, he pulled the auction but I wonder why some one with 2.5yrs on ebay suddenly turn crook? With the kinds of dollars he is scamming he would tracked down. Now he has the Rolex up for auction, let's see if he bails on that too.

Could it be someone comprised his account and is now running fraudulent sales?

DCAMFranklin

Well Mark, you 'da man! You must have been DEAD ON with this scammer. He has cancelled the auction and just look at the BS excuse for the auction cancellation. Remarkable! (NO, pun intended!). Anyway, you are a great aide to the Members here. Way to go!

marcmoish

Mark,

How ironic as I was thinking about that gorgous Merc - and kept mumbling to myself I've seen this coin somewhere and whatever with suspicions it was .... I just passed over it - to your credit however an un- informed collector may have been truly spared this transaction.

But like Ponti pointed out how can you rectify those NEG's?



Marc

coinguy1

pontiacinf,

In answer to your question - I have had my primary Ebay ID for years, and, until recently, had no neutral or negative feedback. I now have two negatives, each from scammers I busted recently, but, I still have well over 100 positives. I had hoped that the two scammers would just slither away without giving me negative feedback, but, it didn't work out that way.

I have one other ID that I use (when I KNOW a scam is involved) in order to warn others. But, I do not use that ID if I have any question, whatsoever, about the seller. I want to be fair, even if I strongly suspect a scam.

dog,

Yes, I am saying that the bidder will get nothing for his $. I had emailed the seller after the sale closed, stating that someone else was offering the identical coin and asked for an explanation. He told me that maybe the other seller was stealing his images. He didn't tell me that he was merely showing stock images. The population on the coin is only 4. He was "selling" one which I was high bidder on and offered others to one or two other underbidders, who emailed me.


ohbaby,

I also thought it was odd that the seller would turn bad after 2 years and that is why I gave him the benefit of the doubt, initially.

Thanks to all of you for your comments. As of now, there is nothing I can do about the two negatives. Ebay refused to remove the one I already asked about, despite the fact that they booted the guy, due to the information I provided them with. In my opinion, some of their policies are truly absurd and mind boggling.

dorkkarl

just another reason i bailed on ebay

K S

Dog97

Thanks for the explaination coinguy1. I didn't know it was a Pop4 coin and this guy "owned" 3 of them.
He could bought lots of crack rock if he had sold it to 3 different people. GRRRRRRRRRRR....................

ohbaby

He just sold a $2,600 watch. Will be interesting to see if the sale goes through with a sunglass buyer no less.

I emailed him about the dime and offered to pay escrow for it and he DECLINED!! Warning Will Robinson! He said he does not like escrow. Gee I wonder why?

coinguy1

ohbaby, a "friend of mine" emailed most of the bidders on the watch, just in case it was a scam too.

coinguy1

I just received this (I did not include the entire blah, blah, blah message) from Ebay and am glad "my friend" warned the winning bidder for the $2600 watch :



We have recently ended listings for 'r_rcertifiedcoins' due to our inability to confirm the seller's contact information and/or the seller's failure to deliver the merchandise advertised on our site. Our records indicate that you were a participating bidder in the seller's listings. At this time we ask that you consider this transaction null and void. Any correspondence from parties claiming to be either eBay or the seller where you are encouraged to complete this sale should be disregarded. This transaction will not be reevaluated by eBay in the future.

If you have not sent payment for this item, we recommend that you do not do so. We advise our members to take caution with all purchases, especially when dealing with high dollar value items. Payment should never be sent in cases where the seller's identity cannot be verified. This includes any requests received from sellers who ask that payment be sent to a party or location that differs from the contact information that appears on the user's eBay account.

Additionally, please be aware that eBay does not recommend the use of instant cash wire transfer services under any circumstances. These services are designed to allow you to send money to family, friends, and other trusted parties. While sellers may offer this option, they cannot require you to pay this way. If any seller insists on payment through an instant cash wire transfer, please decline to send payment.

JOHNandBEA

Thanks Mark

John

sinin1

Wow, eBay is actually starting to do something (too little too late to help their credibility?)

The good thing is - negative feedback disappears when users are no longer registered (or at least noted of)

I would still buy from pop1eye